Welcome to The New Age
by thedayislippedaway16
Summary: Eight months pregant, alone and a single mother to her six year old son, Claire Littleton never thought she'd had to fight for her, her son and unborn childs life in a world filled with dead people. Then she meets Daryl Dixon. Not a very good I know but I'll change it once I come up with a better one.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Just a reminder, this is my first TWD/Lost crossover fanfic so please be gentle. I've been planning to do this ever since I started watching TWD in July (when they were having that marathon) last year. I wrote a rough draft of the first chapter along time ago in paper but its lost so please excuse how bad the first chapter is. I really suck in first chapters.

**Disclaimer: **Anything else belongs to their rightful owners. This is just made for fun.

enjoy!

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><p>It was bright and early in the morning...<p>

Actually, it was a little early for anyone to be awake in this time of hour. Claire knew that. But it wasnt safe staying in one place forever. She's always known that ever since the whole world started to go downhill. Ever since the world was invaded by man-eatting corpses, nothing was the same. Everyone that luckly survived knew that.

The sun hasnt set up yet but by the time on Claire's hand-me down watch that was given by her father, it was only five. Only a hour or so till the sun rises up to the sky.

"Mom, I'm sleepy." Claire's six year old son, Aaron said after he yawned. He tiredly rubbed his eyes trying to stay awake since his mom had to wake him up.

Claire placed her arm over both his shoulders and said pulling him close to her, "Sorry Aaron." she said. Aaron hummed a reponse. It was the same routine every early morning; Claire would wake Aaron up very early, they pack up all of their belongings as fast as possible before any walkers came, then they would walk hoping to finda small town, a neighborhood maybe but luck was never on their side. Espcially since Claire is only eight months pregant.

Yep, that is right. Claire is pregant with her second child. To be honest with herself, she didnt think she would raise her child in a world full of zombies but sometimes life just doesnt go as you exactly planned it to be. Like the apcloypse for example.

Claire wasnt sure how she was going to care for her already six year old son and a newborn already due in a month. Searching for shelter was already tough enough to find for her and Aaron. But for three people, one of them being a baby? that was going to be tougher. Babies made noises. LOTS of noises. Once a walker or a herd of them even hears her child, it'll be a dinnerbell for them. Claire didnt want to risk the safety of her childeren just cause it was hungry or a full diaper.

Thinking about her newborn, Claire rubbed her big belly. She smiled softly just knowing, inside her stomach, was a little boy or girl she would call her own. She loves kids. She was actually really good with them. Back before the outbreak happened, Claire had a job being a babysitter for younger kids thr same age as Aaron. Six year olds to one year olds, sometimes toddlers. For some reason, the kids always loved her. They loved the fiary tales she told them, the songs she sang, the toys she would bring, the activites she made up. They were all so fun and the kids loved it. The parents also felt the same way. Anyways the pay was good, she liked her job but she soon had to give it up once she got pregant with her boyfriend of three years Thomas.

They didnt actually planned on having a baby. If anything, they never talked about having children but it happend. After nine months, Claire gave birth to Aaron and after he was born, it was distarious between them. They always faught the usual fights most parents had. Bills, jobs, a nanny, etc. But even through that, they eventually got through it.

Claire worked part time at a diner while Thomas worked at a company. Then, eight years later, Claire announced she was pregant which Thomas didnt like. At all. After he was told Claire was pregant, he packed up and left. Not even saying goodbye.

Claire was devestated of course. She knew she couldent raise a child by herself. Especially two. But after alot of convincing from friends at the diner, she settled on keeping her child, giving Aaron a little brother or sister like he always wanted. Besides, she had Aarons help of course. He may be young but he was smart.

"Mum?" Aaron's voice snapped Claire out of her thoughts. She looks at him and asks, "yeah?"

"Do we have any water left? I'm thristy." he tells her. "Mmm, we should have some. Let me check." they stopped walking and looking through her backpack where she kept most of the food and water, Claire took out a water bottle with some water left.

"Here." she handed him the water. "Dont drink all of it okay?" she reminded him. Aaron nodded and drank.

After taking a couple of sips, he held the water out to his mother. "Do you want some?" he asks her.

With a small smile, Claire graps the water and drinks it. When she was done, she pus the tap on when they heard a growl.

Claire stands up. She turns around and just a few feet from them, a walker was walking towards them while it growled.

Claire took out her knife and said, "Stay here Daron." Daron nods.

Claire slowly walks up to the walker and when she close to him, she held her kinfe high enough to aim the head and then stabbed him. Claire pulled the kinfe out of its head and let the walker drop to the floor.

Claire sighs. She puts her knife on her knifeholder and walks back to Aaron saying, "Come on, lets go." He nods and they continue their walk.

* * *

><p>Afternoon rolled in and Claire and Aaron mangend to find a cabin in the woods. It was a secluded place, only a few walkers were around but nothing they couldent handle.<p>

Claire had the doors and windows broaded up with Darons help. After setting up a place for them to sleep they sliently ate. Beans in a can, again.

After Claire was done eatting, she cleaned her hands and looked at Aaron who ate his beans.

Clearing her throat, she said, "I promise, tomorrow morning, I'm going to look out and see if I can find a rabbit or squirrel, okay?"

"Thats what you said last week." he said after taking a bite out of the can. "I know but this time I promise okay?"

He didnt say anything. Sighing, Claire continued saying, "You know how scarce food is Daron. Food isnt easy to get nowadays, you know that. Just...it has to take time for us to find food. Espcially once your little brother or sister is born, food will be hard to find. Even things we need for the baby. Life now isn't-" "Going to be easy." Aaron finished for her. He looks at his mother and nods.

"I know." Claire puts her hand on his check and smiles softly to him. "Thats right. It isn't."

"But...do you think it will be okay?" Claire glances down. She slides to to him and wraps him in a hug. "I dont know baby."

(Nighttime)

Aaron sleeps close to his mom while Claire stayed awake, keeping watch for any walkers through one of the gaps on the broaded walls.

The moon shined high up in the sky, the crickets sang their song and if Claire heard right, she heard a owl just a minute ago.

She glances down to her son and smiled softly. She was lucky she had Aaron with her. Alive and thank goodness healthy. In this time now, most people have lost their lost ones. Mothers lost their childeren, husbands, brother, sisters, grandparents and parents, the same for the husbands or even for the kids. Anyone would lose someone they loved nowadays. Claire was lucky she had her kid but she always felt bad for mothers who didnt.

Claire leans down to hiss kis forehead and softly hums the same lullaby her mother would sing to her when she was young.

"Catch a falling star and put it in our pocket/Never let it fade away/Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket/Save it for a rainy day..." she softly sang.

Daron snuggled closely to her with a sigh.

Smiling, Claire lays her head on the wall and closes her eyes, allowing herself to sleep.

**Disclaimer: **I told you this chapter wouldent be good but I atleast tried. Okay I hope I got Claire in character and Aaron too even though in the show, he was like a baby and then I think five but I dont really know how six years olds really act so if I have made any mistakes, please review and tell me.

Till next time :)


	2. Chapter 2

2.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but what I made up. Everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Enjoy :)

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><p>(The next day Morning)

Out at the woods, Claire was walking, looking up at the trees hoping to find a squirrel while Aaron checked the ground for a rabbit or, if the were lucky, a deer.

Aaron was slowly walking behind Claire. Claire looks behind her and says to him, "Aaron, come on, I dont want to lose you." Aaron looks at his mom and runs to her side.

"I want you to catch up okay?" she tells him. He nodded then they heard a snap.

They looked where the snap came from. They stayed guiet. Getting her gun out, Claire pushes Aaron behind her whispering, "Stay close okay?" he nods and she slowly walks where the snap came from.

Closer and closer, she goes where the snap came from and to her shock and amazement, there was a deer. Aaron looks from behind his mom and smiles seeing the deer.

"Mum, thats a deer!" he excitently says.

Claire nods with a smile creeping up. She was speechless. She couldent believe after all this time, looking and sqavenging for food, they finally come across a deer. A real life deer.

"Aaron, I want you to be guiet okay?" she whispers. Aaron nods before Claire finally walks very guiet and slowly to the deer that was eatting on the grass.

When she gets close from it, she points the gun at the deer. Taking a deep breath, she was about to pull the trigger when they heard another snap.

Claire averts her eyes where the other snap came from when she heard Aaron sneeze behind her. The deer looks up where Claire was hiding.

Brown eyes stare at blue eyes before the deer runs away.

Claire sighs and hears Aaron mumble a sorry. Claire lowers her gun when she heard a unfamiler voice curse.

"Damn it."

Claire and Aaron look where the voice came from and coming out of the bushes was a man with a crossbow and a rope with dead squirrels hanging from his belt hanger.

He looks at them before his eyes looked at her stomach. He looked shocked but also surprised. Claire knew right away what he was thinking but she ignored it.

The man looks away from her stomach.

"Who are you?" Claire asks.

"Who are you?" he asks in his southern accent.

"I asked you the same thing." she said.

He rolls his eyes and was about to say something before Aaron runs to his mothers side. "Mum?" he says.

Claire looks at Aaron then back at the man. He looked surprised then before when Aaron showed himself.

Aaron looks at the man and smiles when he see's his crossbow. "Woah, I like your bow and arrows." he says. The guys mumbles a thanks.

"Did you see that deer?' he asks him. "Aaron..." Claire mumbles but the guy answers; "Yea'. I was goin' to shoot it till I heard someone sneeze. Was it you?" he asked him.

Aaron looks down at the ground shuffling side to side on his feet. "Sorry." he mumbled again. Claire places her hand on his shoulder and squeezes it. She looks back at the man and says, "Sorry but we didnt know anyone was out here. I thought we were the only ones in the woods. Well...besides the dead."

"You mean walkers?" he asks her.

"You call them that?"

He shrugs.

Claire shakes her head and says, "Look, we'll help you track your deer and when we find it, we'll split it."

He scoffs and asks, "Do you know how long I've been tracking that deer? Couple days. And that was without making noises."

"We've had a tough time searching for food." she tells him. "For the past few weeks we've been eatting beans in cans, before that we had peaches, corn, peas all in cans but we've run out. We havent had meat. Please." she begs.

"Let us help you find the deer and we can split it."

The man sighs. He doesnt answer for a while. He was thinking about her offer. Claire stood there waiting, hoping that he'd say yes. They were almost out of beans and far from the closest city. This deer would atleast feed them for a couple days, not alot but a few. Besides, they were getting sick of eatting beans. Espcially Aaron.

Then she hears him sigh and say, "Do you know how to track?"

Claire looks down and shakes her head. Looking for that deer was luck for her and Aaron.

He wipes his hand on his chin and says, "It's just you and the kid?"

Claire nods her head looking at him.

Shaking his head, he says, "Half, thats it. I need the rest anyways for the group."

He turns around and starts to walk. Claire and Aaron follow him.

"You have a group?" Aaron asks when he runs next to him.

He hums a response.

"Are there alot of you?"

"Aaron." Claire whispers from behind.

"Yep."

"Are there kids?"

He looks down at him and asks, "Your going to ask alot of questions are you?"

Aaron shortly averts his eyes then looks back at him asking, "Whats your name? My names Aaron."

"...Daryl." he says.

Aaron scrunthes his nose. "Daryl? Thats a weird name. I never met someone with a name _Daryl_." he told him.

"I never met a boy with the name Aaron before." Daryl shot back.

"My mum told me it's from the bible." Aaron told him. "Said I was named after Moses father. Do you read the bible?" he asks.

"Religion isn't my thing kid." Daryl tells him.

"Oh...how come?"

"Okay Aaron." Claire says walking next to her son. "Thats enough questions for now okay?" Aaron seemed a little desappointed but listened to her.

Claire looks at Dary and says, "My names Claire by the way."

Daryl nods without looking at her and walks ahead of her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Well they met Daryl. Like I said I'm not good with little kids, I dont know how they act expect in tv or movies but mostly I've seen film or shows that don't usually have little kids in them so my knowladge is limited. Also I hope I got Daryl in character. I didnt want him to come off as hard on Claire but not too soft either and I dont know it's just going to be tough for me. And for the accents, I don't know them too well so please excuse that. And yeah the chapter is short but honestly, I had a really tough time putting how they will meet in words since I already knew how they were gonna meet planned.

Like always, reviews are appreciated.

Till the next chapter :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but what I made up. Everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

And thank you to those who reviewed and followed/favorited. It really means alot to me :3

Also I will be updating on weekends for now on.

Enjoy :)

* * *

><p>While they followed the trail from the deer with Daryl's help, Aaron talked, mostly asked questions, to Daryl which he answered with a 'yep', hummed a response, nods or say something back to him.<p>

Claire would be from behind listening to their converstation. It wasnt like she was getting into their business, it's just that, it amazed her that Aaron warmed up to Daryl less then seconds after meeting him. Back when the world was, well, normal, Aaron was shy talking to new people. Even at school his teachers would always tell her he didn't very much talk to other students in his class. He hardly made any friends. Claire wondered why Aaron talked to much to Daryl when, he had a tough time talking to new people.

"...When did you learn how to use that arrow?" Claire heard Aaron ask.

"Learned when I was young." Daryl answered.

"Oh, can you teach me?"

"Aren't you a little too young to be using a weapon?"

"I'm only six." he told him.

Daryl glances at Claire who was watching him with eyes that read 'no'.

Looking back at Aaron, he says, "I don't think your ma would like that."

Looking at his mom, Aaron asks, "Can Daryl teach me how to use a arrow mum?"

Claire softly smiles and says, "I'll think about it."

Aaron nods and goes back to asking Daryl questions.

Claire shakes her head a little with a small smile. She catches up to them and walks next to Aaron saying, "So you mentioned a group?"

Daryl nods. "There alot of you at that group?"

"Yea'."

"Do you think they'll let us stay?" Aaron asks.

Darly looks down at him. Claire looks at Aaron and says, "Aaron, why dont you let me and Daryl talk for a moment, we need to talk."

Aaron nods and walks a few feet ahead of them. "Not to far so I can see you okay?" she reminds him.

Aaron says a 'yes' and walks leaving them alone.

Claire smiles a little and says, "I'm sorry if he's bothering you." she tells him. "He doesnt normally warm up to people quickly. He's usually so shy and quiet."

"Thats a'right." Daryl says. "Kids dont warm up to me either." Not knowing what to say, Claire only nods.

"So what are you, Australian or something?" Daryl asks. Claire looks down with a small smile and asks, "What gave it away?"

"Your accent." he says. "Never heard it before."

"Yeah, well, me and Aaron moved to the states after my boyfriend left. It was my idea moving here since I wanted a new start. Aaron wasnt very excited about moving but he eventually learned that it was for the best. I wanted a new start somewhere and the states seemed like the best choice for the three of us."

Claire rubs her stomach with a small smile mentioning her unborn child. Daryl looks her stomach and was going to ask her a question until they heard Aaron call out to them, "Mum! Daryl!"

They look at him. He runs up to them and says, "I found some tracks. I think they're the deers." Aaron shows them the tracks and sure enough, they were.

Daryl kneels down to inspect the tracks checking to see if Aaron was right. Then, he says, "Huh. Little guy was right; they are deer tracks." Daryl says with a impressed tone. He looks at Aaron. "Nice job."

Aaron smiles with a nod, feeling proud. Claire squeezes his shoulder feeling proud of her son.

Daryl stands up and was about to walk when he see's the deer not far from them. He quietly shushes at them which they understood. Daryl points the arrow at the deer and shoots a arrow at the deer which hits the lower part. Scared, it runs.

Daryl groans and curses under his breath and starts to run after it with Claire and Aaron running after him.

But the deer was too fast for them. They soon lost it. Daryl stops running and exhustanly sighs. Claire and Aaron stop behind him and started to catch their breath.

"Did we lose it again?" Aaron asks.

Daryl shakes his head. "Luckily I chased it near my camp. It'll run to it and properly the others will find it and shoot it." he looks at them when they hear screams and then a gunshots.

Claire protectanly holds Aaron. When the gunshpts stop, Daryl looks at them. Seeing their frightened expressions, he says, "There's nothing to be afraid about."

"But those were gunshots." Claire tells him.

"So? they're not going to hurt you. As far as I'm conceredd, the group isn't dangrous."

Claire raises a eyebrow when he mentioned a group. "Group?"

"There's a group?" Aaron perked up after the gunshot and screams.

Getting out of his moms grasp, he runs ahead of them following the tracks. Claire gets up and starts going after him saying, "Aaron come back here."

The both of them go after him. Daryl catches up to him. He graps his arm and before he could say anything, Daryl heard Shane curse while the others looked at Claire and Aaron in confusion and wonder.

Looking at the ground, Aaron awws and says in disappointment, "The walker ate the deer."

Daryl gives Aaron to Claire and holds her son and watches the strangers while Daryl walks to the dead, half eatten deer clearly getting angry.

"Son of a bitch." He curses under his breath. "That's _my _deer! Look at it." he looks at the walker and starts to angerly says between kicks, "All gnawed on by this...Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

With one last kick, Daryl kicked it extra hard before walking away from it.

Dale says, "Calm down, son. That's not helping."

Daryl angerly looks at him and says walking towards him, "What do you know about it old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to _On Golden Pond_?" Daryl walks away from him and looks at the dead deer.

He sighs. "I've been tracking this deer for miles."

"Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl waves his arrow around the bitten part of the deer.

He looks at the group.

One of them, Shane, shakes his head. "I would not risk that." he says.

Daryl sighs very unhappliy. "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel—about a dozen or so." he shows the hanging squirrel from his pants. "That'll have to do." He looks at Claire and asks, "That fine with ya?"

Claire looks at him and nods. "Sure." she smiles.

Daryl looks away when they all hear a moan coming from a walkers head.

"Oh God." a blonde girl in the bushes with proberly her sister said in disguest. They leave in horror and disguest.

"Come on, people." Daryl says walking to the head. He points his arrow at the walker right where the forehead is and shots. After it died, Daryl puts his feet on the head and takes out his arrow.

"It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" he starts to walk away.

Aaron follows him while Claire just stares at the strangers looking at her son running after Daryl with curious eyes. She was nervous. She didnt want everyone to look at her stomach. She didnt want to stick out.

Letting out a breath, she comes out of the bushes and those who stayed behind stared at her stomach in shock. Claire guickly looks down and akwardly walks past them.

"Now hold on a second." Shane said. Claire, Daryl and Aaron look him. So does the others.

"What the hell is this Daryl?" He asks. "Who the hell is this?" He points at Aaron whose hiding behind him and then at Claire who places her hands on her stomach.

"They're with me." was all Daryl said before walking back to the camp. Aaron looks at Shane then follows Daryl.

Claire looks at Shane and smiles softly at him before following Daryl and Aaron.

When they got to their group, Daryl calls out to his brother Merle. Before he could get closer to Daryl, Claire graps his arm and pulls him to her.

Aaron confusanly looks at his mum. "Awe mum."

"Aaron, I want you to stay close to me okay?" She tells him. "Why? I'm only going to be with Daryl." he tells her.

Claire opened her mouth to say something to him when they heard Daryl shout at a different man, Rick, that they first saw where the dead walker was.

"You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl angerly shouted at him.

Rick nods. "Yeah."

Furious and angry, Daryl throws the squrriels away and is about to tackle him before Shane body slams Daryl and knocking him to the ground.

Daryl gets up from the ground and takes out his knife and was about to lunge at the Rick. He swings the knife at him but misses. Rick then punches Daryl in the gut while Shane graps him by the gut and puts him in a choke mode.

Rick graps Daryls knife away from him as Shane forces him to the ground.

Daryl struggles to break free. "You'd best let me go!" he shouted.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

Everyone in the group, including Claire and Aaron watched them after their little fight. Claire had Aaron pulled close to her, her arms wrapped around him with a scared and shocked expression.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl said with a grunt.

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

Rick walks over to Daryl and softly said something to him that the others couldent hear.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." the guys says a little louder.

"It's not Rick's fault." Everyone looks at T-dog. "I had the key. I dropped it." He admitted truthfully.

Shane lets Daryl go who angerly looks at him. "You couldn't pick it up?" he asked walking towards him.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." T-dog says looking down.

After hearing that, Daryl almost chokes up but holds himself together. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." He says.

"Well, maybe this will." T-dog then says, "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him—with a padlock."

"It's gotta count for something." Ricks speaks.

Daryl wipes his eyes then angerly shouts, "Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him." he says.

"No." Aaron whimpers. "You can't go out there alone." he says. Everyone looks at him. Feeling their eyes on him, Aaron quickly closes his mouth and looks down.

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori speaks.

"I'm going back." Ricks says.

Angry, Lori walks away. Rick sighs. "We'll disuss this later." he says to Daryl and leaves.

After he leaves, everyone goes back to their business.

Aaron runs to Daryl and asks him, "Are you really going back to the city?" Daryl looks down at him. "Have too. Ma brother is out there. Somebodys gotta get him." he says.

"But what happens if they get you?" Aaron worriedly asked. "I dont want you getting hurt."

Daryl sighs and ruffles his head. "I'll be fine kid. You don't need to worry about me."

He glances at Claire who looks at him. Daryl looks down and walks away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I'm not very proud of this chapter. And like I said before, I dont know how to do accents so if I messed up just tell me so I can correct them. If anything, is there like a site or whatever to help me with these accents so I can put them in words? Anyways, till next time :)


	4. Chapter 4

4.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. This is made for fun only. Everything else belongs to their rightful owners expect what I made up. Which isnt much I guess.

Because I didn't update last weekend, I decided to upload two chapters for you guys.

Enjoy :)

* * *

><p>Claire walks after Daryl who sat himself by the cooking fire looking angry. She lets out a sigh and walks next to him.<p>

Claire sits next to him. She clears her throat and says, "Are you really going back to the city?"

He hums a response with a nod. "You never mentioned a brother before." she says. Daryl briefly side-glances to her then looks back at the fire saying, "We hardly even know each other. Ain't none of your business."

Claire nods a little then tells him; "I have-well, **had**, a brother. Half-brother actually. His name is Jack. He was a doctor over at Florida. He was a good man." Claire finishes with a sad look after mentioning her half-brother. She hasn't seen him before the outbreak happened. That was four months ago. Claire wonders if he was alive, safe in some camp with other survivors somewhere in Florida. Sometimes she wished there was a way for her to contact him.

Daryl looks at her and says, "Why're telling me this?" he asked her.

Claire looks at him with a small smile. "I might as well know someone before me and Aaron leave."

Daryl was about to say something else when they heard Shane ask Rick, "-Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

Daryl looks at him and gruffly says getting up, "Hey, choose your words more carefully."

They look at him.

"Oh no, I did. Douche bag's what I mean. Merle Dixon," he scofss, "The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Shane says.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. _I _can't let a man die of thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick says.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asks.

Ricks turns and looks at Glenn who was standing behind him.

"Oh, come on." he whined to him.

"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Glenn looks at Lori and Carl.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane asks unhappily.

"Four." They look at T-dog.

Daryl huffs. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?" he asks Claire.

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-dog asks. Daryl knew he was right. No one else was stepping up to save Merle expect a sheriff, a koren man and the man who was reponsible for dropping the damn key.

"Why you?" Daryl asks him.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language." was all T-dog said.

"That's four." Dale spoke walking to them.

"It's not just four." Shane says. He leans towards Rick and says for him to hear, "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was _here. _It was _in_ camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to _protect_ camp."

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." he said.

"Right, the guns." Glenn says.

"Wait, what guns?"

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Rick says.

"Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted."

Lori walks to Rick and starts talking to him. Aaron runs to his moms side watching the adults talk.

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl pleads, begging his dad wont leave again.

Rick sighs. Lori angerly says, "To Hell with the guns, Shane is _right. _Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand." she begs at the last part to Rick.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him." Rick tells her.

"What's stopping you?" she asks.

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer." he tells her.

"These are our walkies?" Shane asks.

Rick nods looking at him. "Yeah."

"So use the C.B., what's wrong with that?" Andrea asks with a slight shrug.

"The C.B.'s fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the seventies, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars."

"I need that bag."

Lori just sighs.

* * *

><p>While the men start getting ready, Aaron runs up to the truck where Daryl was paceing back and fourth impatiently.<p>

Aaron tried to get up on the truck with Daryl with his backpack on his back. Daryl notices Aaron and asks, "What do you think your doin'?" he asks looking at him.

Aaron looks at him and says while he tries to get on the truck. "I want to come with you too."

Daryl looks at him as if he were crazy. "Are you insane? No, you cant come." he tells him. Aaron looks at him while he hung from the truck. "Why not?" he asked. Daryl gets off the truck and gets Aaron off as well and plants his feet on the floor.

He kneels down to him and says, "This is too dangrous for you. Your going to get hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt." Aaron says.

"Yes you are. Your too young to come."

Aaron sadly looks down. Daryl sighs. He hated it when little kids are sad. He had no idea how to handle those kind of situations. Not really knowing what to say, he kneels down and says the first thing that popped up into his head, "You gotta take care of your ma." he tells him.

"Your ma will be worried if you came with me. You dont want her to worry do you?" Aaron shakes his head.

"Then stay here."

Aaron nods his head. "Okay."

"Good." Daryl stands up and was about to go walk back in the truck when he felt Aarons arms wrapped around his legs. Daryl looks at him in confusion and also looking uncomforable.

Claire was looking for Aaron when she found him hugging Daryls legs. She stopped where she was and looks at them. Claire slowly puts her hand on her chest. She didnt know how to feel about seeing her son hug a man they hardly even knew. Actually, they knew nothing about Daryl but that he has a brother that no one likes. Why out of all people, Aaron decided to get close to him? Not that she was aginst the idea. She was glad he was making a friend but...Daryl?

Aaron lets go and runs away and past his mother with a smile saying, "hey mum." Claire smiles and mouths a 'hey' before looking back at Daryl who shock his head and walks to the back trunk.

Sighing, Claire walks where he is.

Daryl sat down just when Claire comes. He sighs and says, "Your not going to hug me too are ya?"

Claire couldent help but stiffle a laugh. She clears her throat and says, "No. I just wanted to say good luck in finding your brother. Wherever he is, I hope he's there."

Daryl blinks a couple of times. He was shocked. He didnt expact anyone to give him luck. Espcially from Claire but he was glad she did though. He needed all the luck he can get in hoping Merle was still up on that roof, alive.

Daryl shakes his head a little and mumbles a 'thanks.' Claire nods with a smile and hesiantly places her hand on top of his and comforably squeezes it. With one last reassuring smile, Claire says, "Be safe out there Daryl."

* * *

><p>After they left, Claire starts getting her and Aaron's stuff ready for them to leave. To be honest with herself, she didnt want to leave. After weeks of being alone, they're finally in a group with people but, she was afraid they wouldn't accept them into the group since she's pregant. She and her kids will be just other mouths to feed. She didnt want to be a bother to the others.<p>

Aaron was close by to her playing in the dirt while she put their stuff together. Not that they had that many things. They grapped whatever they can get to escape the city. Clothes, shoes, socks, food that was already running dangrously low and two or three toys for Aaron to play with and two books. Claire picked up one of her shirts and smelled it. She pulled away and let out a sigh. _Guess I have to do laundry..._

After she fixed up everything, she sighed when she heard someone clear is throat behind her.

Claire looks behind her and see's the teenage girl from before. It was Amy. She was holding some laundry and smiled sweetly to her. "Hey." she said. Claire smiled back. "Hey." she replied back.

"Do you have any clothes that need to be washed?" she asked her. "Umm, yeah I do actually." she said.

"Do you want us to wash them?"

Claire shock her head. "No, you dont have to do that." Claire said. "I'll do it myself. Thank you anyways." Amy nods.

* * *

><p>"Aaron come on, dont play in the water, your going to get wet." Claire says when she and Aaron walk to the lake where the other women in the group were washing laundry.<p>

"What do I do then?" he asks.

"You can help me." Claire says and graps a shirt and starts to wash it. Aaron groans but, graps a shirt anyways and starts helping his mom.

Some time later, after his mom told him to leave from Shane, Carl looks up from the ground and see's the new kid washing clothes with his mom. Carl tilts his head to the left seeing him work. But by the looks of it, he looked pretty bored.

Thinking maybe the kid wanted to play, Carl walks up them. "Excuse me?" Claire and Aaron look up and see Carl standing in front of them.

Claire kindly smiles and says, "Hello, may I help you?"

"Is it okay if I can play with your son?" Claire looks at Aaron who nervlously looks at Carl. She looks back at Carl and says, "He's a little shy, you sure?" Carl nods with a smile.

Claire smiles and aggrees saying with a nod, "Sure. I think that'd be great." Aaron smiles a little but was glad his mom agreed. He puts down the shirt he was washing and nervously walks to Carl.

Carl, seeing how nervous and shy he looked said, "Dont be shy. Come on, I'll let you meet my other friends." Nodding, Aaron follows Carl back at the camp with Carl's mom.

Claire smiles eeing her son making atleast a friend before they left.

She was about to go back washing when someone called her. "Hey." she turns her head where the other women are.

Andrea walks over to her and asks, "Want to come wash with us?" Claire looks at the women behind her then back at Andrea. "You sure?"

"Sure. Come on."

Claire nods and picks up her stuff to follow her.

Andrea and Claire walked with the rest. When they got there, Andrea sits down next to her sister and Claire puts hers and Aaron's clothes down as she sat on the ground carefully.

"Whats your name hon?" Jacqui asks Claire. "My names Claire Littleton." Claire answered grapping a shirt.

"Your from Austraila?" Andrea asks. Claire nods. "Born and raised. I moved here with my son a couple of months before the outbreak happened."

"How long are you?" Amy asks. "Eight months. I should be due by next month."

They nodded.

"So Claire, what are you going do to? Are you thinking on staying here?" Carol asks.

Claire shakes her head. "No. After Daryl comes back and he gives us half the squrriels, we'll be heading our way."

All of them gave her looks. Claire wonders why they're looking at her like that. "What?" she asks.

"Claire, you, you cant leave in your state." Andrea says. Amy argee's with a nod. "Your pregant. You cant go out there alone."

"Why not? me and Aaron have handled ourselves when everything went down."

"But what happens when you give birth?" Carol speaks looking at her. "Aren't you afraid the walkers will-" she didnt need to finish. Claire already knew what she was going to say. They were right. By next month, maybe even sooner, she would give birth to her chid and then what? She knew she was going to have to protect them at all costs, make sure her baby didnt make any nosies or cry loud enough for the walkers to hear. But there was also more runs and even more places to look for shelter for her and her two kids. Leaving would be a bady idea now that she was thinking about it.

But she didnt want to be a burdon. The last thing she wanted was be a ticking bomb in the group. What she didnt need was put others in danger because of her pregancy. But, she also didnt want to put Aaron or her baby in danger as well.

"..You have to stay with us." Andrea says. Claire blinks a couple of times from her thinking and looks at her. "What?"

"You and your son are staying here."

"Why?"

"Because we cant have a mother with a six year old son and newborn baby be alone in the forest or wherever the hell your going alone. You need to be protected."

"I dont need to be protected." Claire says. "I can handle my own."

"And what happens if you dont?" Jacqui asks. Claire looks at her. "Does your son have any training with a gun?" Claire hesitanly shakes her head.

"Do you have anything to protect you and your son besides a gun?"

Claire looks down. "Only a knife." she admitted. "You have enough ammo in that gun?"

"Only a few left. I already used up my last box of ammo."

"Then you gotta stay."

Claire looks at Andrea and asks, "But arent you afraid my baby will attract walkers? They're dumb as rocks but they have perfactly good hearing."

"Don't worry about that." Amy says. "What matters right now is to survive."

...

Over at Atlanta, Rick, Daryl, Glenn and T-dog had just arrived and parked the van somewhere safe and good enough to hide. They run to the fence and Glenn starts to cut the wires big enough for them to get in.

"Merle first or the guns?" Ricks asks.

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation." Daryl says.

Ricks looks at him and emphatically says, "We are." Daryl angerly looks at him but shuts up.

Ricks turns to Glenn and asks, "You know the geography, it's your call."

Glenn glances at Daryl then back at Rick saying, "Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>There's the fourth chapter. Okay I had the converstaion Claire was going to have planned out but I totally forgot what they were talking about. I'm just forgetting alot of things with this fic. Hope this was long enough for your guys.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but what I made up. Everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

><p>While they were looking for Merle, Claire and the others were still washing clothes.<p>

"I do miss my Maytag." Carol says.

"I miss my Benz, my Sat Nav." Andrea nodded.

"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." Jaqui says.

"My computer… and texting." Amy says with a smile.

"What do you miss Claire?"

Claire looks up. With a sigh, she says while folding a shirt, "I miss my chair. The one that always relaxes my back whenever I had a stressful day."

"...I miss my vibrator." Andrea admits. They look a her with smiles.

"Oh!" Jaqui says with a smile and her eyebrows rised up.

"Oh my God!" Amy says feeling disguested.

They laugh.

Carol looks around furtively and then says softly, "Me too."

They laugh even louder. Claire couldent help but laugh too. She forgot how good it felt to laugh and smile, joke around with people. For a moment, it seemed like they forgot about what has happened to the world till Carols husband Ed, came.

"What's so funny?" he asks.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea says. Amy replies a agreement.

They go back to their work. In silence, Claire noticed Ed hasnt left. Instead he stood behind Carol, smoking and watching her. Claire looks at Carol and notices how uncomforable and scared she looked.

Andrea also notices Carols demoner and says to Ed, "Problem, Ed?"

He looks at her and says, "Nothin' that concerns you." Ed looks at Carol and says, "And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club."

Carol doesnt respond but keeps on working. Claire hears Andrea huff. Claire looks around at the others and see's how cold they stared at Ed. She looks at Ed very briefly before going back to work. Whatever Ed does to Carol, she knew he was dangrous.

Seconds turns into minutes and Ed still hasnt left them alone. Claire wanted to yell at him and tell him to leave them alone but she kept her mouth shut. Then she heard Andrea sigh and say to Ed, standing up, "Ed, tell you what. You don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." She throws him a piece of cloth.

It lands on him. Angry, Ed picks it up and throws it back harder back Andrea.

Andrea gasps.

"Ain't my job, missy." Ed says to her.

"Andrea, don't." Amy says to her sister before she does anything.

"What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?" Andrea says back to him.

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch. Tell you what—"

Then Ed graps Carol and starts to drag her away from them. "come on. Let's go."

Carol doesnt say anything and follows her husbands commands. The other women start to say no to Carol and beg her to not go with him.

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed." Andrea tells him.

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me." Carol was about to follow him when Andrea begs her not to go.

Carol looks at her and with the most saddest eyes Claire has ever seen say in a pleading tone, "Andrea, please, it doesn't matter."

Andrea doesnt listen to her and pulls Carol back with the others. Claire stands up and holds Carols arms while the others stood infront of them.

"Don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze. All right?" Ed says to Andrea.

Andrea gasps.

"Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later." Ed warns Carol. Carol flintches. Claire ould feel her shaking.

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jaqui speaks asking him. Claire looks at her when she mentioned brusies. She looks back at Carol who avoids eye-contact with her. Claire pulls her closer and protectanly wraps her arm around Carol's shoulder.

Ed laughs.

"Yeah, we've seen _them._"

Having enough of their shit, Ed says to them, "Stay out of this." he starts to walk towards Claire and Carol. "Now come on!" just before Ed could grap Carol from her grasp, Claire pulls her gun out and points it at Ed.

"Take one more step." she says. "And I'll shoot you, right here, right now. I dont care if I have to waste one shot for a pathtic excuse of a man like you, I'll shoot you."

"Claire, please dont." Carol whispers.

Ed takes a step back from her and says, "You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done, _talking_."

He hits Claire's gun away from her hand and roughly pushes her away from Carol.

"Claire." Carol whispers.

Claire lands to her knees into the water while Jaqui runs to her aid. "Claire are you alright?" she asks. Claire nods and says, "Just take Carol away from him."

Jaqui nods and does what she was told. Claire slowly gets out of the water when she see's Ed slap Carol across her check.

They start yelling at him and hitting him, trying to get him away from Ed. Then out of the blue, Shane comes out and drags Ed away from them and starts beating on him on the face.

They watch as Shane hits Ed. Claire stays guiet and watches Shane beat up Ed before he finally stops and walks away.

Carol cries and runs to her husband saying how sorry she was over and over again.

* * *

><p>During that time, Daryl, Rick, Glenn and T-dog ran to the roof where Merle was. They broke the chain that held the door and once they got the door opened, Daryl was the first one to get out.<p>

But much to all their disappointment, Merle wasnt there. The only thing left was a hand laying on the floor.

"No! NO! No!" Daryl angerly shouts.

* * *

><p>Anger, sadness, panic, fear, guilt, and hate filled Daryl. He couldent believe it. He couldent fucking believe it. Merle was gone. He was fucking gone. And was it all because of a dumbass sheriff that had him cuffed to the piller and a ni-<p>

Daryl heard a click of a pistol from the sheriff. He hadnt relised he had his crossbow pointed at T-dog untill he heard the pistol.

But he doesnt flinch. He knew that if his brother, the only family he's got is dead, he would rather die then stay alone in a world that fucking did nothing good to him.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick say to him.

Daryl blinks away the tears and sniffs. He pulls his crossobow away from T-dog who sighs in relief.

"You got a do-rag or something?" He asks T-dog.

T-dog takes out a rag and hand it to Daryl. Daryl graps it to him and graps Merle's chopped hand. "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." he says with a sigh.

He walks to Glenn's backpack and puts it inside. Glenn stands there mordified and disgusted.

"He must have used a tourniquet—maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't." Daryl follows the trail of blood. Rick motions to Glenn. He follows Rick and Daryl while T-Dog collects the dropped tools and Dale's dropped bag. Around a corner they see another doorway into the building. Crossbow aimed Daryl goes through, Rick and Glenn behind him. Rick has his gun out, ready to shoot.

"Merle? You in here?"

They go down the hallway.

* * *

><p>Back at the camp, Claire was done with her laundry and started folding the clothes to put them inside her's and Aarons bag's while Aaron was playing with the rest of the kids that were in the camp.<p>

While she was doing that, Carol cleared her throat. Claire turns around and smiles seeing Carol. "Hey Carol." she puts down a shirt she was folding and stands up.

"How are you feeling?"

Carol softly smiles. "I'm doing good."

"No Carol, I mean...how are you _feeling_?"

Carol sighs. She somehow knew Claire was going to start asking questions. She wraps her arms around her and says, "I'm fine Claire. Really. I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you alright?" then she whispers the last part, "Did Ed hurt you?"

Claire smiles a little and shakes her head. "I'm good. I just..got wet. Thanks." Carol nods.

"Listen Carol," Claire says. "I know you hear this from everybody but just know that I'm here whenever you need someone for help. Okay?"

Carol shakes her head. "Claire it's okay."

"No its not okay." Claire tells her. "Your husband, he beats you. He treats you like dirt, treats you like your just a meaningless person who just serves him like a maid. Carol, you have to get away from him."

Carol shakes her head and scoffs. "Where well me and my little girl go?" she asks. "No where is safe anymore. My relatives, they're dead, my friends, they're dead too. I'm stuck with him. Weather you guys like it or not, I'm stuck with him."

* * *

><p>"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches one handed." Daryl said when they saw a bunch of dead walkers on the floor with their heads stabbed laying on the floor.<p>

A cresent wrench lies on the floor beside a second one. Daryl reaches down and pulls on his crossbow.

"Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother." He takes out the weapon with a grunt. "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick says to him.

They continue their seach down the building.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Yeah I wanted Claire to act badass in this chapter even though it was very OCC of her to pull a gun at Ed. But I hate how people complain how Claire didn't do a damn thing in the show. For starters, she's fucking pregnat, what the hell is she going to do, put herself in the same kind of stunts or situations like Kate? And she had Aaron to take care of, which by the way, is a tough job for a women her age to care for, she's a single mother raising a child in a dangerous environment, people were after her child in the show, and let me remind you; she actually did do something for Aaron when he was sick so people should rewatch the series and change their perspective on Claire cause seriously, Claire's badass pregnat or not.

And yes I hate Carol's husband so damn much! I knew men like him and they just disgust me so much. And please don't hesitate to leave your thoughts. I'd like to know what I'm doing wrong with this fic, what I need to fix, etc, etc...

Okay, till next time! :)


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